Stony Point Police Department officers arrested a Fieldstone Middle School student following a months-long sextortion investigation.
The probe reportedly began in February this year, and was the result of victims at the aforementioned middle school reporting online coercion to their school administrators and resource officer.
Student Arrested for Sextortion
While six victims have come forward to talk about their experiences, authorities believe that the sextortion scheme affected potentially "several hundred additional victims." The middle school student in question was arrested and charged with the use of a child in a sexual performance, promoting a sexual performance by a child, and possessing a sexual performance by a child.
Despite the arrest, the identities of the arrested student and the six victims who have come forward have not been released to the public. Additionally, authorities did not share the approximate number of victims related to the sextortion scheme, according to Fox5NY.
Sextortion is described as when an individual coerces a person(s) into sharing explicit photos or videos and then demands money or sexual acts by threatening the victim that they would release the material to the public.
The middle school student who was arrested in relation to the crime was originally arrested in June, but the charges against him were not filed until last week. Det. Andrew Kryger of the Stony Point Police Department said that a lot of these types of cases end up out of the state and country.
The latest case involves male students who were led to believe that they were exchanging photos with a female on social media. However, they were actually talking to a male student who demanded money from them by threatening to make their material public, ABC News reported.
Hundreds of Potential Victims
Police authorities emphasized that sextortion is not only a local issue, but is a worldwide problem that is fueled by social media. The department said in a press release that many parents are usually unaware of the extent of the dangers of this type of crime. Officials said it is important to have community support and open dialogue between parents and children.
The student who committed the crime was out of the country at the time he was identified by police. Officials said that the case also highlights the serious dangers that children face online. They praised the bravery of the students who came forward to report the incident they experienced.
Authorities added that the crime is "extremely serious" and involves the victimization of students within the community. It comes as there are about 1,300 students who attend Fieldstone, a regional middle school, as per the New York Post.
